E!’s Oscars red-carpet show is awkward, embarrassingly tone-deaf

We’ve watched the bulk of E!’s Oscars red-carpet pre-show now, and it feels as though there is one word that we can use to describe it: Hollow. This was a show without a soul, without notoriety, and one that failed to completely address the giant elephant in the room: Ryan Seacrest.

Days after sexual misconduct allegations resurfaced against the host, Seacrest arrived on the red-carpet tonight to interview celebrities. There was reportedly a tape delay that was longer than usual tonight, but what was a little more obvious was simply this: The lack of grade-A talent who stopped by for an interview. Sure, Miguel and Christopher Plummer are big names, but there was no Meryl Streep or Greta Gerwig or many of the other prominent women in Hollywood representing the current generation. Seacrest may have denied the allegations, but his presence there was still an enormous distraction. Couldn’t E! have just moved Ryan over to the Roosevelt Hotel, where Giuliana Rancic was, and put his co-host on the red carpet instead?

Now, let’s get into some of the other extremely-awkward moments that took place throughout.

1. Ryan interviewing Christopher Plummer in general, given that he replaced Kevin Spacey in All the Money in the World after the accusations against him.

2. The extremely-long segments with the panel, even in the final hour of the show when it was obvious that some big actors were not stopping by to speak to him.

3. The shade that Taraji P. Henson gave Seacrest — something that you can see even more of over at the link here.

We also have to comment on the following line: “There are some ‘issues’ there.” This is what the show said when it comes to Casey Affleck not appearing during the ceremony tonight. There were segments about empowerment and celebrating female directors and hopes for equality; yet, how do you do that in the midst of the Catt Sadler headlines? How do you proclaim women are equal when you are making movies that alienate your female viewers?

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The biggest question we have tonight is this: Why did E! want this to be the main story of the Oscars tonight? You can believe whatever you want about the allegations or Seacrest’s response to them. What does matter is that for whatever reason, E! chose to stand behind their longtime host, despite the controversy, for the most important red-carpet event of the year. They paid for it with an empty, boring, and watered-down show where the most famous stars were seen only via video footage of them walking the carpet. It was an embarrassment to a network that already has a good bit to be embarrassed about right now — in between Catt Sadler and the decisions made tonight, it’s hard to imagine how the network walks ANY of this back.

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